Chapter 244: Chapter 244

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 244

[Would you like to enter the ancient tomb?]

Ancient tomb.

The lack of information about the level implies either a tremendously high difficulty or the presence of hidden treasures.

Just like the serpent I encountered in India before.

‘I’ll enter.’

Of course, there was no choice other than to enter.

This quest, like the others, was a dungeon that had to be cleared in order to succeed.

As soon as Jeong-hoon expressed his consent, his body was sucked into the portal.

***

At the same time.

"Young Master!"

The Young Master of the Heavenly Demon Sect.

Dokgo Mujin was currently in a life-or-death crisis.

"Ugh!"

It was because of the specter before Dokgo Mujin.

The shape of the black specter was unrecognizable, and it had its hand firmly grasping Dokgo Mujin’s throat.

"Protect the Young Master!"

The elder who had followed quickly drew his sword and tried to attack the specter.

"No!"

Dokgo Mujin hurriedly stopped the elders.

"Young Master!"

"It’s too dangerous!"

"We must eliminate it!"

The elders urgently cried out.

'Promise me that you won’t interfere with anything that happens from now on.'

Before entering this place, Dokgo Mujin had given them this command.

With the sect leader absent, the Young Master was standing in his place, so his orders were absolute.

Even the elders could not go against his will.

However, if the Young Master’s life was in danger, the situation changed.

"I’m sorry."

In the end, the elders launched a full attack on the specter.

But the specter, seemingly amused, gestured with its hand, and in that instant, the elders fell unconscious, vomiting blood.

"Goddamn..."

Dokgo Mujin bit his lip.

He thought it was all over.

The sect leader of the Heavenly Demon Sect.

He had only been one step away from completely taking the sect leader’s position after driving out his stepfather, Dokgo Jun!

But who would have known that the soul of the Heavenly Demon was guarding this ‘thing’?

It was a miscalculation.

The corners of the specter’s mouth curled into a sinister grin as its form slowly entered Dokgo Mujin’s nose and mouth.

"Gah..."

Dokgo Mujin desperately struggled, but it was futile.

'If I had known this would happen... I should have just gone to find the sect leader.'

Dokgo Mujin knew the location of Dokgo Jun’s seclusion.

Despite this, he had not gone to find him, even though the Heavenly Demon Sect’s power was declining.

He had intended to secure the legacy of the ancient Heavenly Demon and push Dokgo Jun out to gain the true power of the Heavenly Demon for himself.

He had been desperate to find the legacy, leaving the Heavenly Demon Sect behind.

And finally, he succeeded in finding the legacy.

Who would have thought that the cursed beast was lurking beyond that door?

No wonder it had been so hard to find.

But that’s where the misfortune began.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Vroom—

As he reached out to the tomb where the legacy was buried, an unknown vibration shook the air, and a black specter appeared.

And this was the result.

The black specter entered through his nose and mouth, and his consciousness began to fade.

"Wow, is it okay to eat this?"

At that moment, a child’s voice came from the side, and the specter’s movement froze.

Jeong-hoon’s gaze turned toward where the voice came from.

There, a beast-like humanoid creature was holding the specter in place.

"!^$#@!#@$"

The specter let out an unrecognizable scream, and the creature emerged from Dokgo Mujin’s nose and mouth.

"Cough! Cough!"

Having regained his freedom, Dokgo Mujin coughed and teared up.

"Are you alright?"

A young man approached him.

"Cough! Who… who are you?"

"I’m the one who came to close this door."

"…This tomb is mine."

How many years had he wasted to find this tomb?

He couldn’t let this young man take it from him now.

"You’ve been saved, and yet you still can’t let go of your greed."

"What?!"

"Know when to come and when to go."

"Ugh!"

The young man struck Dokgo Mujin’s neck, knocking him out.

"Now, shall we close it?"

Jeong-hoon looked at the specter that had been captured by the Seven Deadly Sin.

When he had come through the portal into the tomb, the Seven Deadly Sin had caused a ruckus.

Saying they wanted to eat that thing.

‘It’s a dead soul, so absorption should be possible.’

Thanks to that, the first trial was going to be solved quite easily.

[Absorbing stats.]

The specter offered no resistance and had its stats drained by the Seven Deadly Sin, eventually vanishing after a short time.

"This was tastier than I thought."

Having finished his meal, the Seven Deadly Sin returned with a satisfied expression.

"Full?"

"Well... not exactly full. I still want to eat those too."

The Seven Deadly Sin pointed at the unconscious Dokgo Mujin and the elders.

"They’re off-limits."

"Why? They’re nothing but greedy fools. It wouldn’t hurt to get rid of them."

"That doesn’t give a reason to eliminate them."

"Tch."

"Anyway, if you're done eating, go inside."

Jeong-hoon sent the Seven Deadly Sin away and approached the ancient tomb.

It was undoubtedly a tomb for someone extraordinary, as it was massive.

‘It’s going to take some time to excavate all of this.’

Jeong-hoon pulled out a shovel and began digging at the top of the tomb.

As he dug vigorously, the unconscious elders started waking up one by one.

“Ugh…”

“What in the world happened here…?”

“Ah?! Who are you?!”

Annoying pests were waking up.

[Why didn’t you just tell him to eat it?]

‘I agree. That way, there would be no trouble.’

Mukho and Anima added their thoughts.

Though their words weren’t wrong, Jeong-hoon had no intention of doing that.

“No, this works out. The tomb is so huge that I thought it would take a while if I did it alone.”

Jeong-hoon smirked and stepped away from the tomb.

The elders trembled slightly as they saw him.

“What are you talking about?”

“Be careful! That black shape might have transformed!”

The black specter.

They didn't know it had already been absorbed by the Seven Deadly Sin and mistook Jeong-hoon for the black specter.

“If you don’t want to die, start digging this tomb.”

Jeong-hoon tossed the shovel in front of them.

“Dig… the tomb?”

They stared blankly at Jeong-hoon.

Jeong-hoon then clenched his fist.

The energy of the Heavenly Demon Martial Art surrounded his fist.

The elders were shocked as they recognized the energy.

“What… What is this?!”

“My goodness… isn’t that the Heavenly Demon Martial Art?!”

As expected, the elders quickly identified it as the Heavenly Demon Martial Art.

“So, now you understand who should take this tomb, right?”

“W-wait! Who are you?!”

One of the elders quickly asked.

“Me? I’m the Heavenly Demon from another dimension. To put it simply, I came here through a similar portal.”

Jeong-hoon referred to himself as the Heavenly Demon.

He had received the Heavenly Demon Martial Art and had evolved it beyond what Dokgo Jun had practiced.

They quickly understood.

“I see…”

“Then, did you also eliminate the black specter…?”

Jeong-hoon nodded.

“I eliminated it. If I hadn’t, you all would have died.”

The elders shuddered in fear.

“I- I see…”

“Then, what brings you to this tomb?”

It was good that they understood quickly.

Jeong-hoon withdrew the energy from his fist and motioned toward the tomb.

“I’m here to take the legacy inside.”

“……”

They couldn’t respond.

The legacy Jeong-hoon was after was the very thing the sect’s junior leader had coveted.

It was the reason the entire sect had mobilized, leaving the Heavenly Demon Sect in the hands of the disciples.

The junior leader had believed that by claiming the legacy, he could eliminate the monsters that had been tormenting the Heavenly Demon Sect and take control of the entire martial world.

The missing sect leader had fallen into obsession with martial arts and had lost interest in the martial world altogether.

“Tch, you don’t really think things will change just because the junior leader gets his hands on this, do you?”

“……”

“In that case, you’re looking in completely the wrong direction.”

“……”

“If anyone dares to defy me, come forward. I’ll personally end you.”

Jeong-hoon stepped forward, his footsteps echoing with the weight of the True Heavenly Demon’s Command.

The elders froze in place, feeling the overwhelming pressure.

‘This is different.’

‘That’s the real Heavenly Demon…’

Though the junior leader was powerful, compared to Jeong-hoon, he was like a puppy.

Naturally, the elders dropped to their knees and bowed their heads.

“We will follow your orders.”

“Please show mercy.”

In the Heavenly Demon Sect, strength was power.

It was natural for the weak to bow to the strong.

“Then start digging.”

Jeong-hoon gave the order and approached the junior leader.

He slapped him across the face to wake him up.

“Cough!”

“Are you awake now?”

“You, you are…?”

“If you’re awake, start digging the ground.”

Jeong-hoon’s words became shorter.

From now on, these were his hired workers—his precious(?) personnel.

To make them obey, he would have to subjugate them with force.

“Nonsense! Elders! What are you doing?! Why aren’t you killing this bastard right now?!”

The junior leader, Dokgo Mujin, shouted at the elders.

But the elders only flinched, not daring to move.

No, to be exact, they couldn’t move.

“I’ll deal with you first.”

“What, what…?! Aaagh!”

The scream of the junior leader, Dokgo Mujin, echoed throughout the tomb.

***

The time for subjugation was over, and it was now time for work.

Thoroughly beaten, Dokgo Mujin no longer had any intention of resisting and began to dig the tomb with a shovel.

The elders were the same.

No one dared to defy Jeong-hoon.

“Hurry up and dig.”

“Understood!”

Everyone responded loudly to Jeong-hoon’s command.

Indeed, with these types of people, a good beating was all it took.

[Wow, this is way faster than when I was doing it alone.]

‘So this was all part of the master’s grand plan.’

No.

It was simply that he didn’t want to see the blood of those who hadn’t even committed any wrongs.

Of course, by choosing this option, his workforce had increased, and the speed of the work was now far faster than when he was doing it alone.

When the tomb was fully excavated, a black coffin appeared.

“Step aside.”

Jeong-hoon dismissed them all and reached for the coffin.

At that moment, an unfamiliar voice echoed in his head.

[Is it you? The one trying to take my legacy.]

‘Who is this? Could it be the Heavenly Demon in this coffin?’

[Quick-witted. I like that.]

‘...Are you trying to stop me?’

Jeong-hoon asked with a stern expression.

Then a hearty laugh returned.

[Hahaha, no way.]

‘So, you’re just going to hand it over quietly, then?’

[Of course. The Black Specter. I hastily created this device. The fact that you’ve made it this far means you’ve effectively dismantled my device, right?]

Strictly speaking, it was something absorbed by the Seven Deadly Sins, but still.

‘Was that a test?’

[Correct.]

At that moment, a flashing exclamation mark appeared above the coffin.

Jeong-hoon chuckled.

‘So this was the way to complete it.’

[Quest completed.]

[You may now take the legacy of Heavenly Demon Cheon Ahwi.]

With the quest completed, the coffin slid open.

Inside, an old book was placed atop the corpse of Heavenly Demon Cheon Ahwi.

“This is it.”

Jeong-hoon retrieved the book.

A message then appeared before him.

[You have cleared the ancient tomb.]

The process of clearing the dungeon was complete with the retrieval of the book.

[May you achieve what you desire.]

Cheon Ahwi’s voice ended, and a portal to the outside opened.

“I certainly will.”

Jeong-hoon smiled faintly as he placed the book into his inventory.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]